Sri Lankan cricket is all too familiar with uncertainty brought about by selection committee shake-ups. And there were a few worrying signs during the first five months of SLC's new selection committee, which was appointed in May.
Some notable decisions were the Test recall of Niroshan Dickwella, and the u-turn of Charith Asalanka being dropped from the T20 side before being recalled as vice-captain, and subsequently stand-in captain. Most recently, Dasun Shanaka's return to the ODI side following two years out was a surprise, as was the exclusion of Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Chamika Karunaratne from the T20 sides following stellar performances in the Lanka Premier League.
During an hour-long briefing, chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardene - flanked by SLC honorary secretary Prakash Schaffter - sought to clear the air on some of those decisions.
Clarity around leadership
It was just this year that Kamindu Mendis was named vice-captain ahead of Sri Lanka's tour of the Caribbean, primarily because he was the only player locked into all three formats. But just a few months later, Asalanka has leapfrogged him in that role.
According to Wijegunawardene, this was down to Asalanka's impressive white-ball performances of late: 385 runs in 11 LPL innings at a strike rate of 153.38, including a Player-of-the-Match performance with the ball in the final.
"When we were picking the teams for the England tour, Charith Asalanka made it back into both formats based on his performance in the two formats," Wijegunawardene said. "And given his seniority and captaincy experience, he was handed the vice-captaincy."
He said the move would also allow Kamindu to focus on his batting.
The all-rounder search
Sri Lanka's hunt for a fast-bowling allrounder is a never-ending one. With an ODI World Cup in pace-friendly South Africa next year, that search is more important than ever. In this context, the exclusions of Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Chamika Karunaratne and Milan Rathnayake ahead of a tour of England seemed counterintuitive.
Wijegunawardene, however, said that all three remained in selectors' plans but a combination of circumstances had led to certain decisions being made. In the case of Wickramasinghe, despite his showcase of power-hitting in the LPL - where he struck at 182.55 - he was recently reported for a suspect bowling action in a domestic game, and that impacted his inclusion. He did not bowl during the LPL.
The inclusions of Shanaka and Janith Liyanage - both batting allrounders - meant Karunaratne and Rathnayake were without a place in the squad. Karunaratne had scored an impressive 253 runs at 157.14 during the LPL, while Rathnayake has shown a propensity for power hitting in domestic cricket and with the A team though bowling is his strong suit.
"There has to be vacancies for us to draft in players. So at times you are not in a position to draft in everybody that you want to draft in," he said. "At this moment, when we look at the list of players, what we have observed is that, in ODIs we need a fast-bowling all-rounder who can bat in the 7th position. That is why we picked Dasun Shanaka."
Karunaratne has also been subject to disciplinary issues in the past, but Wijegunawardene was quick to nix any conjecture that this might have played a role in their decision-making. "Absolutely not because as selectors, selections are based purely on cricketing criteria and performance. Should there be any disciplinary issue, there is a dedicated disciplinary committee in place who will let us know whether a player is not eligible for selection, should that be the case. But I can assure you that is not the case on this instance."
Spinners for England tour?
The inclusion of four spinners, in both T20I and ODI squads, for Sri Lanka's upcoming tour of England was a surprise considering English wickets tend to favour bounce and seam movement.
Wijegunawardene, however, said they had taken into consideration the unusually hot summer, which the selectors believe could lead to drier wickets and more assistance for the spinners.
"We take these decisions looking at the pitch and conditions. These days in England it's quite dry, and we expect the pitches might take more turn than in the past. And in any case we have four fast bowlers in the squad as well."
It could be an astute call by the selectors should conditions transpire as anticipated, particularly with pitches potentially more worn down towards the end of the English summer.
The make-up of the four travelling spinners has been questioned, though, particularly with the uncapped Sachindu Colombage being picked ahead of the relatively more experienced Vijayakanth Viyaskanth.
Wijegunawardene said this was down to selectors attempting to give priority to the upcoming Asian Games in Japan, where Sri Lanka are seen as strong candidates for a medal.
"We wanted to send a strong team to the Asian Games. Hopefully win a gold medal. That was the reason. And that has been communicated to the player himself."
Fitness lessons learnt?
After Lahiru Kumara's injury in the first Test against West Indies - he was injured early in the first innings and left Sri Lanka a seamer short for the rest of the Test - SLC have seemingly put in place a more stringent set of requirements for players coming back from injury.
"The West Indies tour was a big mistake," Wijegunawardene said. "That is the main reason we have developed this new policy with the help of the cricket committee."
Under the new mandate, any player returning from injury must establish their match fitness in a domestic game before traveling. This protocol directly impacted Binura Fernando, who missed out on the England tour despite being named in the initial squad because he did not feature in the required domestic match. Fernando is currently playing for Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) to establish fitness for the upcoming Asian Games.
World Cup planning
"Planning is key. And, I can assure you that we are planning to succeed. We are not planning to fail."
That was Wijegunawardene's response when asked whether the new selection committee would fall prey to old patterns, whereby team makeup would be changed last minute prior to a World Cup.
The return of Shanaka and the added responsibility handed to Asalanka are two decisions clearly made with the World Cup in view, and with plenty of cricket coming up in the next few months - series against Pakistan and New Zealand follow the England tour - Wijegunawardene hoped that by the end of that period the selectors would have arrived at a better idea of what the squad should look like.
"We have a lot of cricket coming up. We have the three ODIs against England, then we have Pakistan, then we travel to New Zealand. So, before long, we hope we will at least have a semblance of the squad that we ought to be looking at and grooming for the World Cup."
